Not a lot of us saw this major league breakout coming from Jesus Aguilar. We were all expecting an awkward OF & 1B battle in Milwaukee between Eric Thames and Ryan Braun. Then here comes Jesus walking on the waters of Lake Michigan from Cleveland to Milwaukee to become an All-Star with the Brew Crew (he should be — stay tuned.) Maybe we all should’ve seen this coming — in 655 minor league at-bats in 2016 Aguilar hit 40 HR and 114 RBI. The average was only .261, but in the Indians minor league system he has some high average seasons (2011: .288; 2013: .291; 2014: .304.) Aguilar has already dropped his strikeout rate from 30% to 24.6% and if that number continues to go down while his contact rate continues to climb — Jesus’s ascension could continue.

Rising:

Eugenio Suarez, 3B, CIN: Guess who is second in RBI in all of baseball? Good guess, considering this is Eugenio Suarez’s paragraph. If Suarez was playing for a team with a .500 record he’d be an NL MVP candidate. Suarez has upped his hard hit percentage from 33.8% last year to 48.6% this year. He’s also upped his fly ball percentage from 37.1% last year to 40% this year. Add those last two sentences together and you get a believable growth in HR/FB of 22.9%. He’s also striking out about 5% less from last year. Pair all this was a BABIP of .314 (which is almost identical to his career .315) and you’ve got a believable NL MVP candidate on your hands.

Eduardo Escobar, 3B/SS, MIN: Escobar is the only hitter in the top-10 in slugging percentage with less than 15 HRs. His high slugging percentage is due to his league-leading 32 doubles so far on the season. Here’s the fun thing about that number — the Twins have only played 73 games on the season. The record for most doubles in a single season was 67 way back in 1931 by Earl Webb. Right now, Escobar is on pace for 71. Obviously a lot can happen between now and the end of the season, but how cool would it be to see Escobar break this 87 year old record? And just as a predictor — Jose Ramirez hit 56 doubles last season and look where he’s at now.

Falling:

Dee Gordon, 2B/OF, SEA: Who is Dee Gordon if he isn’t stealing bases? Well in the past 17 games he has 0 SBs and only 8 runs. The .290 average is fine — but without the power or speed, he’s essentially Melky Cabrera. I wonder if the broken toe injury that he returned from at the end of May is still affecting him. The 19 steals he has collected keeps him in the top-5 in that category, but if he doesn’t start swiping some bags again you basically have Melky Cabrera at second base — and nobody wants that.

Oh, he has the second worst BABIP (.197) to only what’s left of Dexter Fowler. Gary is still hitting the ball with authority as evidenced by his 36.7% hard hit rate, but he’s only hitting line drives at a 14.5% clip and is hitting 40% of his balls into the ground. Hit it as hard as you want, but if you’re hitting a lot of ground balls and have almost a 50% pull rate and you’re a slow catcher — defenses are going to shift and easily throw you out at first.

@Iifish Horton Heat:
Hanson: No. Before his injury he was getting there, but he hasn’t done much since his return.
Profar: Maybe. He’s only hitting .233 in June.
Margot: Yea he’s getting there. Since his averaged dropped below .200 on May 21st he’s hitting .345/.427/.524. He’s only got 1 HR and 1 SB in those 27 games — but you have to believe those will come around.

Rough week for my team this week. Thankfully, I’ll still be In first place. However, I’m trying to plug any holes before the deadline. I’m trying to target a closer and an impact bat, like judge, Stanton or manny.

Below is my roster. Given what I have, I think trying to buy low on Stanton before he goes on a tear.

@Mike: You have to take a look at what your trade partner is lacking and offer that. Honestly I don’t know that OF is your issue at all. Really all you need is 1 ace closer and your team should win your league.
How many teams is this league? I think you can not change your roster for the rest of season and still win.

I’m a bit Surprised that you don’t have Teoscar Hernandez in the top 100 or even in the “Looking In” section. Where does he fall in your opinion?

I currently have 3 spots in my starting lineup for the following 6 players on my roster. Which 3 guys do you like the most for this week, and which 3 guys do you like the most for the rest of the season?

Joey Gallo continues to be the most overrated piece of garbage by every pundit. What is the infatuation with this joker? So he hits one ball far every 2 weeks and K’s 3 times a game. He’s an absolute cancer to his team. He is now sitting vs lefties. He hits 6/7 on a terrible team. The guy has a freaking negative WAR for Christ sake. He’s going to be a Quad A player the rest of career, while he teases the Sportscenter masses with the rare Statcast moon shot. The fact he cannot even get a base hit against the beer league softball shifts being deployed against him says all you need to know. You have him ranked 62! He’s should be in the minor leagues learning to hit the broad side of a barn! Get him off this list already. No one hitting 192 in the 6 hole is the 62 best at anything!

I think Rendon will be moving up at least 30 spots in the next month. I would also have Soto quite a bit higher. Even major regression for Soto and he would still be excellent. Very good list though-thanks for the rankings.

@JPR: I agree with you 100% on Rendon. His last two weeks have been fyyyyreeeee.
Soto is really doing a lot more than I expected as a teenager getting this level of a promotion. I think he’ll have some ups and downs as good pitchers/teams figure him out, but is looking like a keeper/dynasty darling.